If you have ventured far enough into sim racing that you have begun to compete online, you may of noticed a few custom livery designs floating around that have really stood out from the crowd. Liveries that have resonated with you and that you have remembered.
The truth is whether you are a dedicated sim racer, a team manager, or a content creator, you have probably already thought about having your own livery or your own brand, in the hope that you can leave that lasting impact on other racers or viewers of your content.
In this three-part series, we are going to look at ways in which to achieve that individual look and introduce you to some of the people and businesses who are providing these services in the Sim Community.
I Got This
So, you have decided that you can manage this task yourself….? Good on you! Many great designers don’t get to where they are without having strong motivation and willingness to learn. Am I going to teach you how to become a great designer in this short blog….? Most definitely not! But hey maybe I can point you where to go to get started on this journey. Make no mistake, this will be a journey! Learning the ins and outs of programs like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP can be a drain on your time but are necessary to be able to do fully customisable liveries.
GIMP
GIMP is a free software program where you can edit paint files. This program is where I first cut my teeth with learning how to go about editing files. This is in large part thanks to members of the community who have produced YouTube Tutorials such as the ones shown here.
Adobe Photoshop
After learning GIMP, I eventually turned to Photoshop like many others and began paying for this service and continue to do so to this day. Photoshop sets you back anywhere from $15 to $80 AUD a month depending on your preferred package. So, the process adds up over time. If you do choose this method, naturally there are other great tutorials online such as the ones shown here
What ever method you choose to edit your files, the one common dominator here is time. The more time you can invest in this process the better your outcomes will be These are just a couple of recommendations to help you get started but the learning material that is available in places like YouTube, painters’ communities on Discord, Facebook and the iRacing forums will help guide you on your way and shavee some hours off the learning process. Best of luck!
Employing A Designer
Many of us live in a world of competing priorities and the time required to complete a fully custom design is sometimes just not a reality. Content creators and Team Managers alike can often use this time elsewhere on building their brands/team’s infrastructure. People in these scenarios or people who just appreciate a good graphic designer’s work, may start to entertain the thought of paying one of the great designers working in the community to do this for them.
If you’re someone in that position, it’s probably time to start thinking about the budget at this point. Naturally, people starting out are going to be more sceptical of paying someone as this is an added cost to what is already a reasonably expensive hobby. Luckily, we have assembled a great range of designers which should fit into everyone’s budget limitations. So, before we end part 1 of the Livery Design In Focus, let’s dive into our first designer!
Sim Wrap Market provides customers with a unique experience when it comes to custom livery design for iRacing. Their business model revolves around customers logging onto their website and choosing from a range of pre-painted base designs. The design files are then downloadable and editable by the customer to add things such as sponsors and additional layers. An instruction file is also provided to help you edit the paint after purchase. Key benefits of working with Sim Wrap Market is the low cost at $10 USD (Approximately $15 AUD) per livery and the paints are immediately available for use! Maybe custom paints weren’t as expensive as you first thought?
If the base design is not what you were after, Sim Wrap Market employs several designers whom you can request fully custom designs from, including at least one Australian painter who will feature in part 2 of this series. In addition to iRacing paints, they also have camera packs for iRacing and pattern files you can purchase to apply to your paint liveries. To keep up to date with Sim Wrap Markets latest paint offerings you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Join their discord.
So far in part 1 of this series, we have covered how to go about completing the livery design process yourself and a Hybrid option in the form of base paints from Sim Wrap Market. These options require the purchaser to have some prior knowledge or willingness to learn post-processing software to get the best results for their liveries. In part 2 of this series, we will take a look at some of the great Australian designers who will take care of the whole livery design process for you!
Want to learn more about Sim Racing in Focus? Head to our About Us page to learn more about who we are and what we do. If you have any suggestions or wish to get in touch, feel free to do so via our contact form.
